Chapter 351:
Chapter 351
Yoo-hyun approached the man and offered him a freshly brewed coffee.
The man’s face was hidden by the brim of his straw hat.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“Just leave it there.”
“Okay.”
Yoo-hyun answered and sat down next to him.
He should have felt offended by the man’s rude tone, but he didn’t.
It wasn’t because the man looked quite old.
Rather, it was because he felt a sense of dignity from him.
Why did he have such a feeling for this shabby-looking man?
He tried to think of many reasons, but he couldn’t find an answer.
He was just special.
That’s what Yoo-hyun’s intuition, which had experienced many people, told him.
Maybe it was because of Yoo-hyun’s gaze, but the man clicked his tongue and said.
“Tsk tsk. You’re so distracted that you can’t catch a single fish.”
Yoo-hyun suppressed his annoyance and replied.
“Then can I try holding that fishing rod for a moment?”
“That won’t do for the price of a coffee.”
“I’ll treat you to some ramen.”
“Fine.”
The man put down his fishing rod and picked up the paper cup on the ground.
While he was sipping his coffee, Yoo-hyun quickly grabbed the wooden fishing rod.
Strangely enough, there was nothing hooked on it.
“…”
Yoo-hyun nced at the man, but he didn’t say anything. He just drank his coffee.
His eyes were still hidden by his straw hat.
Yoo-hyun didn’t ask and just threw the fishing rod.
Then he focused his attention on the float.
Until now, he had fished leisurely, but not anymore.
He poured all his nerves into the fishing rod.
His excellent concentration and observation skills caught even the slightest movement of the float.
The float swayed on the rippling water.
Whip.
It was the moment when Yoo-hyun swiftly pulled up the fishing rod.
Contrary to his expectation, there was nothing on the fishing rod.
Instead, he heard the man’s voice from beside him.
“Tsk tsk. Your mind is tooplicated.”
“How can I catch anything without any bait?”
“You have a lot of excuses. Give it to me.”
The man put down his paper cup and took the fishing rod. He casually threw it.
He didn’t even bother to throw it far.
Yoo-hyun watched the float that fell into the water and came back up. He stared at the man.
He didn’t seem to have any pretense in his appearance.
Could it be?
Yoo-hyun hid his inner thoughts and focused on the man’s actions.
At first, he observed the trembling of his hand holding the fishing rod, then he noticed his swaying upper body and his slightly nodding head.
Then he felt his pulse and followed his deep breaths.
His movements looked infinitelyfortable, like the rippling waves.
Whoo-woong.
The wind blew and the waves rose, and so did his body.
The man who had stretched out his body without caring about Yoo-hyun’s gaze opened his mouth.
“They say it’s not about catching fish, but about finding peace.”
Of course, Yoo-hyun knew that too.
It meant that the reason for fishing was not to catch fish, but to forget about the world’s troubles.
It was also in line with Yoo-hyun’s purpose of taking time out to fish.
“I didn’t think about catching fish either. I just wanted to clear my mind by fishing.”
“You’re just pretending to clear your mind.”
“…”
Yoo-hyun lost his words at the man’s reply.
At the same time, Kim Hyun Min’s words shed through his mind.
-Yoo-hyun, you’re too obvious about trying to act rxed.
He couldn’t ignore his boss’s words that might have been nothing.
His desire to be rxed had be a small indicator of his life.
Yoo-hyun wanted to be truly rxed.
That’s why he tried to empty himself more.
He agreed to transfer without a fuss, he tried to livefortably here, and he wanted to fish.
It was all part of his effort to empty himself.
Thanks to that?
He didn’t feel awkward anymore when he rested.
He even learned how to enjoy his leisure time.
He thought he would find an answer if time went on like this.
But.
The man said no.
He said it was just a pretense.
As Yoo-hyun was about to argue, the man lifted his fishing rod lightly.
Ssh ssh.
A fish came out as expected.
Before Yoo-hyun could be surprised, the man’s voice came in.
“How can you clear your mind when it’s tangled up?”
A lightning bolt struck Yoo-hyun’s head for a moment.
That one sentence pierced through the thread of thoughts that was stuck in one side of his head.
Surprised, Yoo-hyun looked at the man and asked.
“How can I change if I don’t think about what I have to do?”
“Are you going to ask someone else about your life now? Haha.”
“…”
Yoo-hyun couldn’t say anything at the man’s rhetorical question.
The man shrugged his shoulders and got up from his seat. He dusted off his butt and said,
“This is boring. Let’s eat the ramenter.”
Yuhyun quickly got up and grabbed his sleeve. He sounded desperate, something he never did before.
“Sir, can’t you spare me a little more time?”
“No.”
The man turned around coldly.
Yuhyun wanted to hold him back, but he couldn’t say anything.
He stretched out his hand in the air and watched the man’s back.
Maybe it was because of his shirt fluttering in the wind, but his back seemed unusuallyrge.
The man stopped for a moment, then threw a word over his shoulder without looking back.
“You’ll only get a headache if you worry about everything in the world.”
“…”
By the time Yuhyun came to his senses, the man was gone.
He looked around, but the man was nowhere to be found.
Only the fishing rod and the bag left behind proved that the man had been there.
The next day, Yuhyun went to the fishing spot again.
But he didn’t see the straw hat man.
Thud.
Yuhyun put down his phone that he had turned off on the tent.
He didn’t bother to fill the electric kettle with water or cook ramen.
He just sat down and focused on fishing.
Like when he met Laura Parker, like when he faced Steve Jobs.
He raised his concentration to the limit.
Swish.
But the result was no different.
Why wasn’t it working?
Yuhyun calmly took a breath and recalled the man’s movements from yesterday.
“He did it like this, right?”
He clumsily threw the fishing rod again, imitating what the man had done.
He slumped his body and fixed his gaze forward.
He felt a vibration in his fingertips as the water flowed.
He took a very deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.
He felt the cool breeze blowing on him.
The smell of grass, the smell of water filled his nostrils.
He focused on his senses that wereing alive and consciously emptied his mind.
He felt a bit more rxed, but he still couldn’t catch any fish.
Did he be obsessed with fish because of the man?
Until yesterday, he didn’t care much about it, but now it felt like a stressor.
A sigh escaped from his mouth involuntarily.
“Sigh.”
Suddenly, he heard the man’s voice in his ear.
-Tsk tsk. Your head is too cluttered.
Yuhyun jerked his head up and lifted his fishing rod with a jerk.
He couldn’t catch any fish even if he focused. There was no way the fish would bite like this.
“What am I supposed to do?”
Yoo-hyun muttered to himself and stayed still for a while.
He couldn’t see the straw hat man the next day, or the day after that.
Was it because he was too conscious of him?
The more he held the fishing rod, the more his head felt cluttered.
He decided that it was pointless to spend time like this and eventually put down his fishing rod.
His actions were always quick after he made a judgment.
Yoo-hyun packed his fishing rod in his bag and slung it over one shoulder.
The heavy weight felt like it was showing his current state of mind.
He came to empty his mind but ended up leaving with a hook. He wasn’t very pleased.
Trudge trudge.
As he walked, Yoo-hyun paused for a moment in front of the mat where the man had sat before.
He remembered the words the man had said when he left.
-You’ll only get a headache if you live with all the worries in the world.
That became a good excuse for him.
“Yeah. I don’t need to get hung up on fishing.”
Yoo-hyun chuckled and resumed his steps.
He looked much more rxed somehow.
His afternoon schedule was empty since he didn’t go fishing.
Yoo-hyun rolled around in his room at the inn and then faced his morning routine the next day.
He rolled around on the floor of the break room as well.
It was nothing special, but it was fun in its own way.
Kang Jong Ho asked him curiously.
“Why do you look so drained today?”
“No, I’m fine. Do you want some coffee?”
Yoo-hyun got upzily and dragged his slippers to the water dispenser.
“No, I’m good. I can make my own.”
“Okay.”
Shhhhh.
As he filled his paper cup with hot water, Yoo-hyun recalled what had happened earlier.
He felt like he wasn’t thinking about anything at all.
It was a strange feeling for Yoo-hyun, who always had something on his mind.
What did he do?
He tilted his head when it happened.
Beep beep beep beep beep.
A loud rm rang in the break room.
He quickly got up and followed Kang Jong Ho’s gaze to the TV screen.
The front of a blue van that had just passed the entrance was shown on the screen.
Kang Jong Ho shouted into the radio right away.
“The inspector is here. Hurry up and gather.”
Yoo-hyun, who was next to him, said casually.
“Finally, the inspector showed up.”
“You look happy about it?”
“I was curious.”
“What did you say?”
Kang Jong-ho, who had sneered at Yu-hyun’s answer, soon shook his head vigorously.
He still couldn’t figure out Yu-hyun.
At that moment.
Lee Young-nam, the vige head, was sitting in the back seat of a van.
Bae Yong-hwan, the president of Bokdeokbang, who was sitting next to him, asked him cautiously.
It was about the fishing spots in other viges that they had visited together today.
“Mr. Lee, I think it’s a good idea tobine camping and fishing like other viges do.”
“But?”
“I’m not sure if it will work well since our vige doesn’t have many visitors.”
Instead of answering, Lee Young-nam asked Bae Yong-seok, who was in the driver’s seat.
“Yong-seok, didn’t Han Ji-im say that he hasn’t been to the fishing spottely?”
“Yes. He hasn’t been there since the day before yesterday.”
Lee Young-nam nodded and winked at Bae Yong-hwan.
“See? He’s already done patrolling the fishing spot and looking for other solutions.”
“Is that so?”
“Trust me. Just wait and see. He’s a meticulous person. He wouldn’t have overlooked such a problem.”
Lee Young-nam had a confident expression.
Then, Bae Yong-seok eximed in surprise.
“Huh? Mr. Lee, there’s a car from the Mokpo factory going up there.”
As he said, a blue van was climbing up the narrow mountain road.
Lee Young-nam couldn’t miss that car that he had seen countless times.
“Those bastards.”
He gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Yong-seok, follow them quickly.”
“Yes. Got it.”
The van sped up along the road.
Before long, Lee Young-nam had a cell phone in his hand.